Centrifugal airhandling blowers are widely used for circulating air in residential and commercial heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Electric motor driven centrifugal blowers or fans mounted in volute or scroll type blower housings are particularly widely used in HVAC systems wherein the blower housing is mounted in a cabinet which may also contain heat transfer equipment such as a refrigerant fluid heat exchanger or a furnace heat exchanger, for example.
One problem faced by prior art airhandling blowers is the inability to expand the capacity of the blower within a given cabinet size beyond a certain blower housing size, since the physical dimensions of the blower housing of increased capacity prevent installation in a cabinet without redesigning or increasing the size of the cabinet itself. To this end, a blower housing of the type described herein and in the above-referenced patent application has been developed. However, further improvements in the efficiency and airflow capacity of a blower, including a blower housing of the type generally as described in the above-referenced patent application, in combination with a cabinet, such as an air handler cabinet or furnace cabinet, have been realized in accordance with the present invention.